Fantasy Faire 2024 – The Duskfall Court

On By altathiemenIn Second Life, SL Events
A view into a luminous blue forest at night. Rock ledges protrude into the view from left and right. Waterfalls descend from these ledges as well as from a series of rock steps in the center distance. The lush foliage seems to give off a pale blue light. In the center, a twisted root grows in above a stream. It is covered with long, heavy thorns. Several greenish lanterns have been suspended from branches above the stream. In the left foreground, the head and shoulders of a heavily tattooed woman with long white hair tied into pigtails can be seen gazing toward the distant waterfalls.

SLURL: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/The%20Duskfall%20Court/162/130/71
Sponsor: Quills & Curiosities / Cryptid
Designer: Dacien and Marcel Blackwood, Crow, Lemony Nova

Shops

  • Quills & Curiosities/Cryptid
  • UNA
  • Dreadfully Dark
  • Stoic
  • Trap
  • Paniq
  • HEXUMBRA
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  • Tentacio
  • Vanilla CLoud
  • Iicing
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  • Kumiho
  • Valhalla
  • Badwolf
  • Muu
  • Astrium
  • Sekai
  • Mysteria
  • Not a Peep
  • Ghosted

As soon as you drop onto the landing area, you realize you are someplace far from everyday life. You find yourself surrounded by a lush, luminous blue and purple forest. The landing zone looks almost like a faery ring in the supernatural forest. Perhaps it is.

The Duskfall Court is the seat of shadow and where pranks are rarely harmless. Those who abide by its laws find themselves watched over by the nobility of the court. Those who tread these woods best watch out because the woods watch back and will not hesitate to ensnare the unwary.

Twisted roots form arches over the pathway out of the ring. The roots look very old and strong, and they bear sharp, heavy thorns at least a foot long. This is a clue that though this may be something of a faery land, it may not be wise to let your guard down.

Winding along these paths sits the seat of their power, the gnarled roots of a great tree that grew upon the land when the first fair folk appeared.

A nighttime view of a lush, dense forest. A carpet of purple flowers recedes a few meters to the edge of a clearing marked by purple and green mushrooms a couple of feet high. Their caps are glowing softly. Massive, twisted roots with foot long, sharp thorns arch over a pathway that leads away straight out of the clearing. The roots are at least a couple feet in diameter. On either side of the path, luminous blue trees fill the view. At the distant end of the path, a building can be seen.

This is certainly one of the more photogenic builds I’ve explored this Fantasy Faire. Around every corner is a view that just takes your breath away. The (super?) natural environment blends seamlessly with the shop buildings, especially on the lower portions where the shops are housed in overgrown barrow like mounds.

During the LitFest tour, one of the designers noted “A big part of the idea for this years build was a love letter to 80s dark fantasy. Labyrinth, Legend, Dark Crystal and the like.” Certainly, vibes from all of those, and others surface in this wonderfully imagined space.

The obvious route out from the landing area/faery ring is to walk under the archway of thorny roots and head for the shops. But first! Turn 180 degrees and walk down an almost hidden path in the opposite direction.

A quiet river meanders between high stone banks under a night sky with two moons directly ahead, about three quarters of the way toward the top of the frame. On top of the stone banks, gently luminous trees of varying blue hues grow high. Massive, one to two foot think, thorny roots curl out from the banks or arch all the way over the stream. Waterfalls cascade from various spots all along either bank. In the middle distance, an eyot juts in from the right. It is overgrown with purple flowers. In the foreground, on a similar eyot stands a woman with long white hair with pigtails. She is looking away toward the two moons. Several gently glowing green lanterns are suspended above the river from tree branches.

At the bottom of this path, you’ll find a real treat! There’s hidden river fed by and lined with waterfalls in almost every direction. The stream meanders around eyots overgrown with purple flowers. Overhead in the clearing you can at last see the alien sky that vaults over this world. Two moons surrounded by a ring that is made not of refractions through ice crystals, but somehow from runes written in the sky itself, look down on you from above.

This may be the most dangerous place in the whole region! I can easily imagine becoming so enchanted with this lovely spot that I would just freeze here, transfixed by the experience for years. Maybe that’s one of the mischievous tricks the faeries here might play on unwary visitors.

Several small buildings appear to have been built into barrow like mounds of earth, each 10 to 15 feet high. Each mound is richly overgrown with blue and purple flowers and turf. Romanesque arches provide the single entrance to each building. A path winds between the buildings. In the distance, a luminous blue forest surrounds the scene. low clouds fill the horizon.

But I’m not unwary! I’m not getting trapped here, I must move on and explore the rest of this region. (But I do plan on coming back here to do some of my writing!)

Pass back through the landing area and up the path. At the turning, you can go either direction to take in the shops. Those on the lower levels of the build are really charming, as I mentioned before, they are built as part of the landscape, grown over by the flowers, turf, and foliage of the enchanted wood.

The small figure of a woman with long white hair stands before a dark pool filled with faery lights which is fed from behind by a waterfall. In the middle of the pool, an enormous toad looks back. It is maybe ten feet across, has a purple bow on its head.

While you walk the shops’ path, be sure to take any turning that might present itself. There are surprises to be found off the beaten path. It’s all perfectly safe… I think.

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